


let me be the one you come running to

by outruntheavalanche



Category: Pitch (TV 2016)
Genre: Don't copy to another site, F/M, Second Chances, Wedding date, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-10-26 02:05:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17736959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/outruntheavalanche/pseuds/outruntheavalanche
Summary: Ginny’s always thought of breakups like surgical operations.





	let me be the one you come running to

**Author's Note:**

  * For [darlininmyway](https://archiveofourown.org/users/darlininmyway/gifts).



> I can’t remember if they ever stated if Ginny was short for anything so I decided her full name is Virginia.
> 
> Thanks to [](http://www.archiveofourown.org/users/izzetboilerworks/profile)[**izzetboilerworks**](http://www.archiveofourown.org/users/izzetboilerworks/) for looking this over.
> 
> Title from "Let's Stay Together," by Al Green.

Ginny’s always thought of breakups like surgical operations. Once the relationship’s done, you cut the other person out of your life and simply move on. There’s no need to stick around and play the “just friends” game, leaving all that history and emotion off to the side like it doesn’t matter anymore. It matters. Of _course_ it matters. 

When Ginny was younger, her high school friends used to joke she left a trail of brokenhearted men trailing behind her. And, well, it was pretty much true. Ginny wasn’t ruthless or anything, she just didn’t see the point in hanging on. In clinging to something that didn’t even exist anymore.

Which is why she’s a little surprised to get a wedding invitation in the mail bearing Noah Casey’s return address. They’d broken up over a year ago. Ginny hadn’t even realized Noah knew her new address.

Frowning, Ginny scrutinizes the pale crème-colored envelope and traces her eyes along the intricate loops and swirls of her name— _Virginia J. Baker and Guest_ —before unceremoniously ripping the thing open. 

A slip of paper flutters out and lands on the grass beside Ginny’s mailbox. She stoops to pick it up and shakes some dirt off of it.

_Gin – I know this is probably weird and I have no expectations of a response, but Kathrynne and I would love if you could come. All the best, Noah_

Ginny has to read the note a second time because she can’t be entirely sure she isn’t imagining this.

Her ex—who she was with for almost three years before getting dumped over one of the apps he’d invented—was inviting her to his wedding to _Kathrynne_. Not Catherine or Katherine or even Kathryn. _Kathrynnnnneeee_.

Ginny hastily pulls her phone out of her hoodie pouch and fires off a text.

_Noah, I hope you and Kathrynne have a lovely wedding and I thank you for the invitation but I won’t be attending. I have more important things to do, like literally anything el—_

After a moment of furious texting, her fingers flying, Ginny stops with a sigh and presses down on the **delete** button, erasing the whole angry screed. 

She stares at the blank screen and chews on her bottom lip. 

Fat droplets of rain start pelting her, dripping into her eyes and down onto the phone screen. 

Ginny sighs and swallows her pride, thumbing away Noah’s contact to bring up the contact of another person she hasn’t spoken to in a long time.

 _Hey Mike, it’s Ginny. I know it’s been a while but I was wondering if you could do me a solid. :)_

A few minutes later, as Ginny is hanging up her sodden hoodie on a hook by the door when her phone vibrates in her jeans pocket.

Ginny pulls it out and brings up a text from Mike Lawson.

_Sure._

Then a few seconds later, another message pops up.

_Why?_

Ginny smiles and texts back, _Nothing bad. For the most part. Noah’s getting married and he invited me. Plus one._

 _Oh_ , Mike replies, _that slimeball. Inviting the ex to the wedding? Psychological warfare. You want me to kneecap him?_

Ginny snorts out a laugh. _No, nothing that drastic. Just be my date to the wedding pleeeease? I think he always thought there was something going on between us. Let’s give him a little something to think about. :)_

 _Devious_ , Mike texts back almost immediately. _I like it._

*** 

The wedding is going to be held at an historic farmhouse in horse country, acres of rolling green hills, lush trees, and sheltering blue sky overhead. Ginny is certain it’s going to be drop-dead gorgeous and she knows she’s going to hate it. 

Part of her can’t help but feel like this should have been her wedding. She and Noah had been talking around the subject, at least, right up until that fateful day she got pinged with a message from his app. Noah was in Rome for a conference and _I just feel like we’re going on two separate journeys Ginny._

She’d contemplated going psycho ex on his San Diego condo, dousing everything in kerosene and taking a match to it, before she regained her senses, left her copy of the key on the kitchen counter and walked out. 

It hasn’t even been a full year and he’s already marrying someone else. 

That’s not to say Ginny still wishes she was marrying Noah. She got over the break-up—there were red flags she’d chosen to ignore—but still. It feels like he’d taken the unfinished sketches of _their_ —admittedly nebulous—someday-down-the-line marriage plans and found someone he actually wanted to complete them with. 

Ginny’s unbagging some groceries from her latest run to her local co-op when Mike’s ringtone starts going off. 

Ginny pulls out the phone, hits speaker, and starts putting groceries away.

“What’s up?” she calls out as she stands up on the tips of her toes and slides a box of organic, gluten-free pasta into a cupboard. 

“Nothin’ much, just dropping in to soldify our wedding date plans,” Mike says. He sounds static-y, like he’s passing through a tunnel.

“Oh yeah?” Ginny prompts. She grabs a bag of fresh, organic tomatoes and juggles them against her chest. “Lay it on me.”

“You wanna make the ex jealous, you dress super sexy. And you act like I’m the best thing since sliced bread,” Mike says, sounding like he’s enjoying the thought way too much. She can almost picture his eyes crinkling in the corners as he grins at the thought of making Noah squirrelly and nervous. 

Ginny feels like she should be annoyed by this, but the thought of flirting openly with Mike, even if it’s only to make Noah jealous, makes her cheeks flush with heat. She hasn’t felt this _high-school-y_ since they were teammates. 

“I’m already starting to regret this,” Ginny says.

She can practically hear Mike smile over the line. “I’m enjoying myself.”

“I can tell.”

“Oh yeah. And if you really want to make a statement, wear white.”

“If by ‘make a statement’ you mean ‘trample all over hundreds of years of wedding etiquette,’ sure,” Ginny says, rolling her eyes at the bag of lentils in her hand.

“Noah flipped etiquette the middle finger the second he decided inviting his ex to his wedding was a good idea,” Mike points out.

Well, he’s got her there. 

“All right,” she says, her mouth curving into a smile. “Sounds like a plan.”

*** 

Ginny’s almost disappointed that the wedding isn’t tacky. In fact, it’s a lot like what she’d been imagining right up until Noah jettisoned her. 

That thought bothers her more than it should.

She and Mike are mingling by the bar, working on fruity cocktails. Ginny spots the bride off in the distance, a statuesque blond in a whipped meringue dress with Noah not far behind her. 

They look like those plastic bride-and-groom cake toppers.

A hand lands between Ginny’s shoulder blades and she turns toward Mike, keeping her eyes on Noah and Kathrynne. 

“You all right?” Mike asks, drawing her into his side.

“I’m fine,” Ginny says, as she stirs her straw in her drink. She watches Kathrynne and Noah link their hands, their rings flashing. “Think they’ll be happy?”

Mike looks over at Noah and Kathrynne too, shrugs and sips at his drink. “I dunno. Maybe. Why?”

Ginny sighs and slips her arm into the crook of Mike’s elbow. “I…I guess I’m jealous even though I don’t really wish it was me by Noah’s side? Like, not anymore,” she says.

Mike hums and takes another sip of his drink. “Maybe it’s not so much about Noah as it is…”

Ginny turns and looks over her shoulder at Mike. “Yes?”

Mike pulled the corner of his mouth into a half-smile and nudged Ginny in the shoulder. “You said it yourself,” he says. “You got over Noah. But you see all of this—this _pageantry_. And you’re wondering if the opportunity’s passed you by.”

Shrugging, Ginny takes a sip of her drink. “Maybe, maybe,” she allows. “You have any suggestions?”

Mike’s half-smile morphs into a full one. “You’re lookin’ at him.”

Ginny laughs and reaches out, rubbing her hand over Mike’s chest. “You’re being serious?” she asks, ticking her nails down the buttons on his shirt. 

Being with Mike had always felt like a pipe dream to Ginny. Something she conjured up before she went to sleep—or dreamt about once her head hit the pillows. She’d never considered they might actually have a real shot. And when she and Noah split up, she shelved all her dreams of marriage and family, devoted herself full-time to baseball. 

If Mike’s saying what it sounds like he’s saying… 

“Yeah,” he says. “There’s still something here, isn’t there? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?”

Ginny sighs and puts her drink aside to tuck herself against Mike’s side. “I think there always will be,” she admits. “I guess I just figured Noah was my shot at happiness and I blew it and…”

“I thought the same thing with Rachel,” Mike says, his warm breath caressing her forehead as he ducks his head near hers. “After Rachel and I blew up, I thought my chance for a happy ending went out the window. But then there was you.”

Ginny looks up at him, into his chocolate brown eyes. “Second chances, huh?”

“Third, fourth chances in my case,” Mike chuckles. 

Ginny stands on her toes and kisses his bearded cheek. She tightens her arm with Mike’s. 

People begin knocking their silverware against the rims of their glasses and when Ginny lifts her head, she sees Noah and Kathrynne lean in and embrace each other, their lips meeting. 

Rather than feeling jealous, Ginny feels a surge of fond warmth. Once upon a time, Ginny thought she needed Noah and the happy ending she’d envisioned with him. She has what she needs right here, by her side. 

Mike presses his lips briefly against her forehead. “Here’s to love.”

“And third, fourth, fifth chances.” Ginny reaches up, cupping Mike’s cheek in her hand, and draws him down for a kiss.


End file.
